Tag: SoundExchange

SoundExchange has submitted a new rate proposal and testimony in the SDARS III royalty rate proceeding from which the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) will set rates for the years 2018-2022 for Sirius XM’s satellite radio service, as well as, cable/satellite TV music services provided by Music Choice and Muzak.

SoundExchange has proposed a rate that is the greater of either 23% of revenue or $2.48 per subscriber per month in 2018 with annual increases. The current rates for Sirius XM are 10.5% of Sirius XM’s “Gross Revenues” in 2016 and 11% in 2017.

SoundExchange says it is adapting to an age where direct digital performance licenses are more commonplace in the U.S.

As a trusted provider of back office services, it has already inked more than a dozen agreements to be an admin partner to labels, increasing its chances of processing payments from the likes of Spotify and Apple Music for the industry’s big boys.

Last week Pandora announced direct licensing deals with all 3 major label groups, Merlin and more than 30 independent distributors and labels, including The Orchard and CD Baby. These deals enabled Pandora to launch new interactive features and a new $5 tier last week, and paved the way for a full Spotify-like Pandora on-demand streaming music service later this year.

A major side effect of these direct deals is that streaming on Pandora is no longer subject to the statutory rates set by the U.S. government and payable via SoundExchange. Not only is this a major loss of income for SoundExchange, it also removes an important layer of protection and oversight that the not-for- profit performing rights organization provided artists.

Since the CRB has raised the per-stream rate, it has made it harder for Pandora to survive. Scaling for Pandora was anyway a double-edged sword, always requiring higher payments to rights holders. Initially, those right holders had agreed on easier rates to allow growth and, back then, the establishment of Pandora. But Internet radio is now well developed, and the majors are not as easy going. The collective licensing agreement with SoundExchange is practical for Pandora though unpalatable, and unless Pandora can offer other services for a discount, such as the promotion of new releases, little will change.

It is in this context that Pandora has revamped its Artist Marketing Platform to support a direct-to-fan business.11 Its AMPcast feature now allows artists to target their Pandora fans by sending them audio messages about local concert dates, album releases, and other ‘behind the scenes’ content. AMPcast also provides links for the purchase of both albums and concert tickets. This new tool could be a market changer, for it would make the online radio provider not just a distributor of recorded music but an active player in the live music space.

Need to find an important piece of metadata for a particular recording? SoundExchange has announced the launch of an online tool for looking up the ISRCs, or International Standard Recording Codes, related to the nearly 20 million recordings in its database. ISRC is the standard for identifying sound recordings. Countries have their own ISRC agency that assign the unique numbers.

Each number is comprised of a two-letter country code, a three-character code for the registrant, two numbers for the year, and five numbers assigned by the registrant. The RIAA oversees the ISRC system in the United States and its territories. The IFPI oversees ISRCs globally.A correct ISRC helps ensure the correct label or artist is paid a performance royalty when the recording is streamed by webcasters such as Pandora and satellite radio service SiriusXM Radio.

At any given time, SoundExchange has tens of millions of dollars in undistributed royalties because it has received inaccurate or incomplete data from a service.